Real Madrid humbled by Leganes in King’s Cup

MADRID, Jan 24 (Reuters) – Real Madrid suffered a humiliating 2-1 home defeat by Leganes on Wednesday to exit the King’s Cup at the quarter-final stage on away goals.

A much-changed Real side, missing the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, held a 1-0 advantage from the first leg but their troubled season hit a new low as they were outplayed by a team lying 13th in La Liga.

Leganes started brightly and Claudio Beauvue sent a free kick against the post in the opening exchanges.

The visitors were deservedly level on aggregate after half an hour as a mishap between Achraf Hakimi and Nacho allowed Javier Eraso the space to produce a stunning finish from outside the box.

Beauvue sent a volley into the side netting on the stroke of halftime as a shell-shocked Real were jeered off the pitch at the break.

That appeared to bring about a reaction from the home side and Karim Benzema produced a neat finish from an acute angle immediately after the restart to put Zinedine Zidane’s men ahead on aggregate. Leganes centre-back Dimitris Siovas missed a gilt-edged chance as he headed back across the six-yard box with the goal gaping, but moments later Gabriel Pires made no mistake as he thumped home a header to put Leganes through on away goals. They joined Valencia, who defeated last season’s finalists Alaves on penalties earlier on Wednesday, and Sevilla, who knocked out Atletico Madrid on Tuesday, in the draw for the last four. League leaders Barcelona host Espanyol on Thursday, trailing 1-0 from the first leg in the last quarter-final.